


Keeping score

by TaleaCorven



Series: Beauty and the Man Beast [1]
Category: Professional Wrestling, World Wrestling Entertainment
Genre: Angst, Hugs, Kayfabe Compliant, M/M, Secret Crush, Self-Doubt, Unrequited Love, or maybe not?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-01
Updated: 2017-01-01
Packaged: 2018-09-14 00:10:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 716
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9148237
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TaleaCorven/pseuds/TaleaCorven
Summary: Rhyno realizes his true feelings for Heath. But now it's too late, isn't it?





	

**Author's Note:**

> This is based on [their argument on Talking Smack](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90lyaK28bqk) after their loss against the Wyatt Family. (December 6, 2016)

_It was over,_ Rhyno knew it. Not only had they lost their Tag Team Championships but also their rematch. There was no reason for Heath to stay with him anymore. _Heath..._ When Rhyno thought about him, he had butterflies in his stomach, like a teenager.

At first Rhyno had only been interested in Championship gold. If it was the Tag Team Championship, fine. But then he'd grown accustomed to the man he'd spent more time with than anyone else in the last few months. This hadn't been supposed to happen. Heath had kids – too many of them – and Rhyno didn't like kids, mainly because he'd never learned how to treat them. However, Heath's kids were okay, he'd warmed up to them.

He didn't like Beulah, though. Not because she was Heath's wife – well, maybe a little bit because of that - but more because she always flirted with other guys behind his back, even with Rhyno. It seemed to him as if she didn't really care about Heath but only about the checks he brought home. For a while Rhyno had considered telling his tag team partner about her behavior. But that would have meant to actually talk to Heath, seriously, about something personal. So that had been out of question.

The more he thought about the other man, the more he realized that he'd actually fallen in love with him. _What an idiot he was._ Even if Heath hadn't been married, he would have never been interested in Rhyno. All he could do was gore people. All Heath had ever asked of him was to win matches, and he'd even failed at that.

Rhyno wasn't good with people – unlike Heath who seemed to make friends in the blink of an eye. _Everybody liked the ginger. Of course they did; he was nice and fun to be around._ He respected Rhyno and never made fun of him or his body. Sure, he called him a "refrigerator", but in a nice way - he said "angel". The older man smiled when he thought about it. In fact, he didn't notice most people were actually pretty fast annoyed by the loudmouthed _One Man Band._

However, despite his feelings Rhyno was a former ECW Champion and still had his pride. Nobody was allowed to publicly humiliate him. So _he_ was going to be the one who would break up their tag team. _He_ was going to leave Heath, not the other way around.

 

* * *

 

It was hard, harder than he had imagined. Heath looked so lost when he told him that it had been _his_ fault that they had lost. Rhyno knew it wasn't true. Still, he couldn't back down now. He needed all his strength to retain his composure. But he also knew he couldn't keep it up for long. So he had to leave the show, leave his distraught tag team partner behind.

When he reached the parking lot, he almost collapsed. But then he suddenly heard a voice behind him.

"Rhyno, wait! Please!" It was Heath.

The older man swallowed hard and turned around.

"I'm... I'm sorry if I let you down." The ginger looked at him with his big round eyes that started to fill with tears. "I thought we're friends. I don't want this to end. We can still win the titles back..." Now the tears were streaming down his face, and he tried to wipe them away.

Rhyno felt his heart clench. He looked around and when he was sure they were alone, he stepped forward and awkwardly hugged his friend. "Okay, calm down." Before he knew it, Heath had wrapped his arms around him and pressed himself close to him – too close. The Man Beast freed himself and stepped back, his face blushed.

"We... we can try," he stammered. "Another match, I mean." His heart was beating fast. He wanted to touch his Beauty again, but he knew that was a bad idea. It was one thing to hug your tag team partner in celebration after winning a match. It was something else to hug him in an empty parking lot... while you wondered what his lips felt like.

Heath smiled happily and innocently. "So, we're going to kick some ass again next week... tag team partner?"

"Yeah." Rhyno looked to the ground. "We will."

 


End file.
